Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News

A Galactic GPS System That’s Now in the Works Could Help Our Descendants Navigate Through the Universe

The International Space Station aims to be testing out an interplanetary GPS system by 2017

None

The Earliest Known Primate Weighed Less Than a Golf Ball

The primate’s Latin name translates as “ancient monkey,” and the fossil is about 7 million years old

Dead Male Guppies Can Make Babies

Female Trinidadian guppies store sperm from males that they mated with and use it to make babies long after the males they mated with died

None

This One Picture Shows How We’re Causing Climate Change

Atmospheric greenhouse concentrations are going up. But where do those gases come from?

A pair of romantic southern bottletail squids.

Female Squid Use Sperm for Both Reproducing And Snacking

Females may even be eating sperm from unattractive males and fertilizing their eggs with sperm from their favorite mates.

The Hula painted frog

An Extinct Frog Reappears in Israel

In addition to coming back from extinction, the amphibian also represents the only living species of a unique class of frogs

None

Will One Patent Kill Podcasting?

There are thousands of podcasts to download, from sports to comedy to science. But one man says that all of them, all podcasts ever made, are infringing on his copyright

None

Oklahoma Has Way Too Many Storm Chasers, And Most of Them Aren’t Doing Much Good

During a huge tornado hundreds of storm chasers will clog the roads trying to catch a view

Most Adults Don’t Recognize a Drowning Child

As opposed to what Hollywood would lead us to believe, drowning is a quiet, easily overlooked affair

None

The Death of a Conservationist Who Fought Poachers and the Drug Trade That Funds Them

Conservationist Jairo Mora Sandoval’s passion for protecting sea turtles likely cost him his life

Here’s Antarctica as we know it today, a land of vast ice sheets.

Here’s What Antarctica Looks Like Under All The Ice

Antarctica is covered in miles of ice. But what does it look like underneath?

A maternity care package provided by Finland.

Finland’s State-Issued Baby Care Packages Give All Children an Equal Start in Life

After 75 years of state-issued baby care packages, today the box is a “right of passage” for expectant mothers

Some of the toothy fossils that clued researchers in on our ancestor’s grass-eating tendencies.

Human Ancestors Grazed on Grass

Around 4 million years ago, our ancestors’ diets were about 90 percent fruit and leaves, but suddenly incorporated grasses 500,000 years later

None

The Killer El Reno Tornado Was the Widest Tornado Ever

The El Reno tornado that hit the Oklahoma City suburb last Friday was the widest tornado ever seen

Not from the current spill, the Rainforest Action Network shows what they say is lasting damage from Ecuador’s long history of damage from oil production.

A Ruptured Pipe Spilled Oil Upstream of the Amazon River

A burst pipeline in Ecuador spilled 10,000 barrels of oil into a tributary of the Amazon River

None

Police Can Now Take Your DNA After Any Arrest

The Supreme Court has ruled that police can take DNA samples from anybody under arrest for any crimes, regardless of whether DNA is relevant to their arrest

None

Pheromones From Man Sweat Makes Guys More Cooperative

The higher a man’s testosterone levels, the greater his generosity after sniffing the pheromone

Page 1043 of 1132